


To Begin Again

by tanwenmc



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Brainwashing, Dream Sex, Extremely Dubious Consent, Mind Control, Mindfuck, Other, Tentacle Sex, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 02:00:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanwenmc/pseuds/tanwenmc
Summary: Ashley has a strange dream the night after Zhu's Hope is liberated, which leads her down into the Thorian's lair.





	To Begin Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Luffymarra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luffymarra/gifts).



The celebrations after the defeat of the Thorian had carried on late into the night. Shepard had seen the writing on the wall and told the crew that they'd be staying on Feros at least one day more, to help the colonists with rebuilding after their losses. Ashley couldn't deny that they would really need the help. 

She'd made an effort to moderate her drinking, knowing that one slip could lead to her blacked out and with a wicked hangover in the morning. It was hard, though, with everyone hailing her as one of the heroes of the fight, convinced that if they just shared a drink with her some of that glory would rub off on them.

Somewhere around midnight, her control slipped and she had one too many. After that, it became easier to have another, and another and — 

The world is hazy around her, her limbs loose, her gait unsteady. She stumbles back to the row of cots set aside for the Normandy crew. There. An empty one, at the end of one of the rows. Her reserves burn away as she collapses face-first onto it, not bothering to remove any of her clothes. 

She falls directly into a dream — no gap between closing her eyes and passing into unconsciousness. She becomes aware, gradually, that she is floating in an endless, formless space. A gentle presence seems to reach out to her. _Ashley. Ashley Williams. Ashley. Ashley._

The repetition of her name reverberates through her, from her head to her toes. Impossible to ignore, so she turns her attention to the presence.

_Come. Come to me. Ashley. Come._ The voice, if it can be called that, grows stronger, the reverberations within her body becoming more intense. Almost like arousal … no. Not _almost_.

With that realization, the call becomes irresistible. She floats towards it, the presence growing stronger as she gets closer. Something catches her ankle, and a surge of joy follows. It's not hers — it belongs to the presence that called her here. The presence that is wrapping itself around her leg, a thin —

_Tentacle._ The word threatens to jolt her out of this pleasant reverie, for some weird reason, but she doesn't want to be jolted. She shoves the momentary hesitation aside so that she can plunge back into it. It seems that it has been forever since she was this comfortable, safe, _wanted._

It is strong, that _wanting_. Almost as strong as the tentacle that continues to wrap itself around her leg, moving higher, pulling her towards it. She relaxes into the touch, feels another tentacle wrap around her other leg. They feel soft and warm and pleasant against her bare skin.

_Ashley. Ashley. Ashley._ The words are like a caress in her mind, filled with desire, yearning; a shiver travels up her spine in their wake. Her legs are spread apart, the fine tips of the tentacles teasing at her entrance. _Let me. In. Let me in._

She's wet, and the combination of physical and mental sensations is too much for her to resist. _Yes._ She's not sure whether she spoke the word, or just thought it, but the presence hears and responds to her assent. The tentacles slide themselves inside her, one on each side, pressing against her walls. Not like a cock at all — _better_. A fine, controlled touch that moves with infinite patience and slowness across every inch of her insides. 

_Ashley._ The word has a possessive overtone now. The presence is holding her. Claiming her. _Ashley. Come to me._

She jolts awake. Bites back a cry of disappointment and frustration, because, fuck, she's still wet. Right on the edge. Her hand starts to move downward, and then she looks around and sees everyone else around her. The thought of trying to finish in front of all these people is utterly distasteful.

Her clothes are rumpled from being slept in, but she'd have to go back to the Normandy to change, and — she doesn't want to. She gets up, her core throbbing with pent-up need, as she walks into the settlement of Zhu's Hope. Privacy. She needs somewhere with some privacy. How many of these buildings are occupied? No way to tell. If she can't see them, and she's quiet, that should be enough privacy, right?

She finds herself at the edge of the settlement, away from all the buildings. All the people. She leans against a wall, facing away from the settlement, and unzips her pants. Her hand slides down, under her panties. Her fingers find her clit, and she lets out a long sigh of pure delight and relief. Now. _Now_ she can finish properly.

It almost feels like she's back in her dream, or maybe that she never really woke up. She still feels that _other_ presence with her, the voice echoing in her mind. _Ashley. Ashley._ She leans into it, letting the approval and encouragement wrap around her like the tentacles in her dream.

_Ashley._ Her fingers work faster, her head thudding back against the wall. _Ashley._

_Cum._

The word has a force of command behind it, and Ashley's body reacts, the pleasure from her dream and her fingers cresting and breaking over her. If she was thinking clearly, she'd be embarrassed at how loud she sounds, sure that someone would hear her — but she's beyond thinking about anything but her climax. About how good this whole experience has been. Much better than anything else recently. Since before Eden Prime. Well before.

_Ashley._

"Yes," she whispers aloud, still caught in the afterglow.

_Come. Come to me._

Her feet start moving, her hand removing itself and returning to her side. She feels drunk all over again, or dazed, or something, because she's not making any conscious decisions about where she walks. Her feet take her down, down the spiraling corridors, past the wreck of geth from yesterday's battle.

_Come to me. Come. Come._

The words beat in time with her heart. Her feet keep propelling her forward. 

_Come._

She stumbles into the cavern where they had found and fought the Thorian on the previous day, and all of a sudden her strength leaves her and she falls to her knees. The pain sends a jolt through her and she's momentarily awake, aware, wondering what the _hell_ —

_Ashley Williams. Look at me._

Her head snaps up. And there it is. The Thorian. Smaller than the last time she'd seen it. "You're dead," she whispers.

_Death is. Temporary. If there. Is someone like you. Nearby._ A tentacle reaches out to her, snakes under her chin, holds her face up. _To bond with. Draw strength from._

She should be scared. She should be trying to break free, and run away, but she doesn't want to. This is the presence that was in her dreams. The presence that called her. That had _claimed_ her.

_Yes. Ashley. You let me in. And now. You belong to me._

The tentacle that was under her chin starts moving down, wrapping itself around her chest. Ashley keeps looking up at the Thorian. It seemed so monstrous yesterday, so uninviting and unappealing. There is an echo of those feelings, still, but they are overshadowed by longing and acceptance. _You belong to me,_ the Thorian says again, and every part of Ashley radiates agreement with that statement.

The tentacle lifts her off the ground entirely, moving her inexorably upwards. She is dimly aware of the vast cavern below her, of the fact that the tentacle is all that stands between her and a painful fall. She is not afraid.

The Thorian moves up, up, into the hole in the ceiling that is the size of its former self. The dim morning light disappears as she passes into its lair, its _proper_ lair. She realizes now that what they had seen before was the audience chamber of the Thorian. The public area. 

This area is smaller and more — the word comes almost unwillingly — _intimate_. The Thorian moves further away from the hole, towards an area of immense blackness. Its body glows softly, providing Ashley with enough light to see it by. 

The Thorian rotates the tentacle that still holds her, putting itself between her and the hole they have just entered from. It lays her gently down, on top of something soft rather than the hard ground she'd been anticipating. It looms over her, and she realizes that it is not that much bigger than she is, now.

The tentacle that had carried her upwards strokes her left side with surprising gentleness before pulling back to look at her. _Ashley. Ashley._ Her name reverberates in her head, seeming to synch up with her heartbeat. _Look at me. Look. At. Me._

Ashley lifts her head so she can see the Thorian better. The soft glow gets brighter. The long tentacle that has held and caressed her so lovingly sways back and forth over her head, arcing towards her. Her eyes trace its path. Swinging. Closer. Closer.

_Ashley. Ashley._

"Yes," she breathes, without really knowing why. "Yes."

The tentacle cradles the back of her head. Two, thinner tentacle snakes towards her, following a similar path. She watches, entranced, as they reach for her face, each of them caressing one cheek, and then —

She gasps, arching her back, as the tentacles touch her ears and then continue, burrowing themselves into her skull. A part of her thinks that this should be hurting, but she feels nothing but an overwhelming sense of _completion_. The Thorian's voice has been echoing inside her mind, pulling her towards this moment, so that it could use physical contact to complete what it had started in her dream.

_You serve. Me. Now. And always._

_Always._ She answers it in her mind, because her mouth is too busy moaning. The tentacles have found the pleasure centers of her brain, and her body is aflame with something that almost transcends physical feeling. She is vibrating with it, humming on the brink of an orgasm that threatens to wash her away completely. 

_Cum. Cum._ The word repeats over and over in her mind, and her body obeys, thrashing in helpless, hopeless delight in the Thorian's firm grip. Her legs spread of their own volition, her back arching again and again until the feelings subside. Ashley feels both drained and rejuvenated; momentarily exhausted, but with a deep innate sense of purpose and vigor that she knows will drive her forward from this moment on.


End file.
